


The importance of being Ernst

by Jeremy_Disaster



Category: Rise (TV 2018)
Genre: Following the canon, M/M, this is a Jeremy centred fanfic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-21
Updated: 2018-06-07
Packaged: 2019-04-25 21:52:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14387853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jeremy_Disaster/pseuds/Jeremy_Disaster
Summary: Mr. Mazzu offers Jeremy to audition for the show Spring Awakening.Jeremy may be interested, not only on playing a role for the show.*This story was previously called Attention but I changed the name to The Importance of Being Ernst because I'm that Trashy*





	1. Chapter 1

The bell announcing the end of the class took Jeremy by surprise as he was doodling little cartoons on the margin of his notebook.

“Don’t forget to read the chapter for the next class” Asked mr. Mazzuchelli as all his students left the room in a rush. “And please, the boys interested in participating in the show the Drama Club will be presenting soon, the auditions will be held at three pm today… please, we need boys for the show” He said. Seeing that no one was listening, he tried one more thing “The show is Spring Awakening” He reminded the few people left in hope someone would even care.

Little did he know one of is students heard him loud and clear.

Spring Awakening, thought Jeremy and tried to imagine how would it be to play such a show in High School, were they even allowed? Did the principal and the parents of the drama club give their okay for them to perform such a thing? If his memory wasn’t wrong, and normally in stuff like shows and plays it wasn’t Spring Awakening touched on topics like abortion, suicide, teenagers having sex, homosexuality and incest.

“Are you thinking about auditioning for the show, Jeremy?” Said Mr. Mazzuchelli all the sudden, interrupting his thoughts. “I know last year you were in one of the school plays and I’d be really glad if you tried out for this one, we could use your voice and acting talents”.

Jeremy blushed a little as he was surprised someone still remembered his participation in the play. His role was such an irrelevant one, especially counting of the fact that Simon Saunders and Gwen Strickland, the best school’s performers, were the leads.

Simon, Jeremy thought. Is Simon in this show too?

“I’ll think about it, Mr. Mazzuchelli” He answered. The teacher nodded and turned back to his desk as Jeremy finally started to put his stuff in his backpack. If he didn’t start moving soon enough he would be late to the cafeteria and wouldn’t have a seat.

 

 

“Have you Heard? People are saying the school’s biggets stars didn’t get the main role of the play they are performing next, isn’t that incredible?” He heard a girl saying, she was sitting somewhat close. As he Heard the comment Jeremy couldn’t help himself but take a look at the table where Simon and his best friend, Lilette Suarez usually sat.

He stared at them for a moment, no more than a few seconds. He knew that if he stared for too long someone might catch up on that, heck maybe a miracle could happen and Simon could look his way just to find him staring. Probably he would spontaneously combust if that happened.

Jeremy couldn’t help but bit his own lip as he felt all his face turning red as a tomato. Looking at his surroundings he then tried to calm down a little.

Jeremy knew Simon made him feel things, like butterflies in his stomach whenever they shared a stare in the hallways or both entered a classroom at the same time causing their arms to touch each other. In fact, Jeremy had already come to terms with his sexual orientation or at least the attraction he felt for Simon Saunders, but the thought of someone else knowing, without him even saying it, terrified him.

Taking deep breaths, he took another look at where Simon and Lilette were sitting. Apparently one of them had said a joke or something because they were laughing, so close to each other they were about to be one on top of the other.

Jeremy felt a little tug in his stomach as he imagined himself being the one sitting next to Simon, so close to him they could even feel the warmth emanating from the other. He was so lost in his thoughts he didn’t realize someone just pulling the chair next to him and sat until the person talked.

“Do you think they are more than friends?” Questioned the person next to him.

 “Excuse me?” He replied trying to sound calm as he felt caught and a little ashamed, did someone really catch him staring at Simon?

“Do you think Simon Saunders and Lilette Suarez are more than friends?” Repeated the girl, feeling a little self-conscious he turned towards the girl and finally looked at her, she was a redhead, Annabelle was her name if he recalled it right. He met her last year in the as she was part of the theatre department too.

“I don’t know why would you ask me something like that,” He said, hoping she didn’t notice the blushing all over his face.

“Oh, sorry… I just figured you were staring at Lilette,” so close. “I guess you were lost in your thoughts then”.

“Something like that”.

“Anyway,i don’t know if you remember but we worked together on a play last year, you are Jeremy, right? I’m Annabelle”

“Yeah, i remember you,” He said. It was impossible to forget. Sure, the thing he remembered the most was how great was Simon as a lead, but the play meant so much to him he remembered almost everything, the audition, the rehearsals, the teamwork, the performances, it all stayed in his mind.

“Good, i don’t know how do you feel about it but the theatre department is about to present Spring Awakening and we haven’t had enough guys, in fact, even the main wasn’t cast yet, if you are interested you could audition, you could even get the role of Melchior”.

So, the girl he heard before was right, Simon hadn’t been cast as the main role. For some reason, this made Jeremy all excited, all of the sudden. He had this feeling, the fact that Simon wasn’t the protagonist somehow was meant to be important, at least to his own story.

Without even realizing it he nodded as a response like he was accepting Annabeth invitations to the auditions. This made the girl pretty happy.

“Great, break your leg in the auditions,” she told him as she took her stuff and woke up “See you soon I guess” she added and left him.

Jeremy sighed to himself, finally understanding what he accepted to do. Nervous as he was for committing himself to auditioning, he checked the time on his phone. If he really wanted to participate in the play he needed to go sign up for the audition that afternoon.

Waking up from his seat he went to the trash can and left there his tray. After that, he went to the hallway where Mr. Mazzuchelli’s classroom was. He was pretty sure he had seen the poster with all the casting on the wall next to it.

As he found the poster he was looking for he checked up what was the role they gave Simon, it sure wasn’t the protagonist, that one as Annabelle had said was in for the taken. No, Simon got a less important role, Hanschen.

Hanschen.

Something on Jeremy’s mind just clicked then, he had to participate in the show, he had to get Ernst's role.

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

Jeremy spent the rest of the day thinking about the show. Only he realised he had been thinking about the wrong things about the show just when he found himself standing in front of the auditorium's door. He had no idea what song would he perform if he was asked to, and let's be honest, this was a show, odds were pretty high. 

Heck, he didn't even thought of going to the library and check the play for some character reference or running some lines. 

This was a bad, bad idea.

Suddenly he felt very self-conscious while remembering the different scenes he imagined and how they all were about him and Simon playing side by side. 

Yeah, he absolutely messed up his opportunity. 

"Are you just going to stand there?" A voice asked him, it was coming from behind him. He immediately moved aside without even thinking. "Is everything okay with you?" The guy asking took a step closer to him, insisted. "Are you nervous because of the audition or something?"

Finally, Jeremy looked up the person talking to him, hoping he looked composed. He hadn't met the guy before but he seemed really worried.

"Yeah, sort of..." Admitted Jeremy. "I guess I just realized I don't have a song to sing for it". 

"Oh man, that's not really a problem, is it? Just sing the first thing that comes to mind. By the way I'm Michael.. I'm auditioning too".

"Jeremy" He responded and they procceded to shake hands. 

"Great, you made it Michael!" Another guy had come towards them without Jeremy realizing. The two boys, Michael and the new guy shook hands too, then the guy presented himself as Maashous.

It turned out Maashous was the one responsible for the lighting. 

Jeremy realized he was starting to feel a little more comfortable and happy to be about to audition for a role on the show. He hope the other two would be around so they may all hang out together.

 As he was feeling a lot more relaxed someone from the other side of the door opened it.

Relaxed and cool, about to audition? Yeah, well that was before he saw the person opening the door was Simon.

 "Have the auditions already started?" Asked Maashous.

"Not really. No one showed up yet" Simon then went on staring at Michael and Jeremy. "Please tell me you two are here for the auditions, I really need a guy. I mean, I need an Ernst. I mean.. we are lacking boys on the show". 

Jeremy glanced at Simon for a few seconds as the last was now staring at the floor and, was Simon Saunders blushing right now?

 "Yeah, we are", Michael answered breaking the silence after Simon's comment. "I'm Michael.. this is Jeremy". 

Both Simon and Jeremy nodded as if acknowledging one another.

"I know you," said Simon looking at Jeremy "Don't we have math class together?"

"Chemistry" corrected him Jeremy, so fast it made Michael rise an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah, you sit right next to the skeleton"  Nodding again, Jeremy couldn't help but smile a little, he never thought Simon would pay any attention to a guy like him.

"Anyway, we should enter the auditorium" commented Maashous, shattering the moment. "Mr. Mazzu looks like he needs us to breathe". 

The three boys did as Maashous said. As they walked through the auditorium Michael stole some glances at Jeremy. The blond was aware of this but decided not to comment on it and pretend he wasn't paying attention. 

"Do you have any role in mind you want to play?" Michael finally asked as they reached the stage. 

Simon, who was retaking his seat next to Lilette stopped on his feet and looked at Jeremy, seemely curious. It didn't go unnoticed by Lilette nor Jeremy who just shrugged the question and said something about how being part of it would be fun just like it was last year.

"I'm sure we're all gonna have fun, right, Simon?" Agreed Lilette as she smiled, Simon nodded. "But first we need to find our men!" She said dramatically joking.

"And we will find them", interrupted Mr. Mazzu. "I'm really glad you came boys. Now show us some talent!".

 

Michael had a great voice and by the time he ended singing everyone was clapping effusively. Jeremy gave him a thumbs up as the other boy was getting down the stage. 

Then the auditorium got silent, it didn't take more than a second for Jeremy to realize that was his cue to get up on stage.

As he claimed the stairs and was left with his back facing the auditorium he tried not to think of the fact that people were studying his every moves, everyone was with his eyes on him. Simon had his eyes on him.

"You can do this", he told himself as he breathed deeply and turned to face everyone else. "I'm Jeremy Travers and I'll be singing I'll be by Edwin McCain".

The music started and he just let himself feel the song. He tried no to think of anything, not to look at anyone in particular, just let himself be. 

Before he even noticed the song was over. For a brief moment everyone was silent and Jeremy panicked, he was so immersed in the song, he was so full of the positive energy that filled the auditorium but maybe he didn't do as well as he thought? 

Then all of the sudden he started hearing applauding, he saw Michael nodding in approval and Lilette looking extremely excited. He couldn't help but smile shyly. 

As he was about to get down the stage Mr. Mazzu raised a hand to stop him. Jeremy retreated a few steps and waited for Mr. Mazzu to tell him what to do next. 

"Excellent work, Jeremy. Do you mind just running a few lines for a second? I think I saw something" Mr. Mazzu explained, Jeremy nodded. "Simon, can you get on stage?" He added. 

Try as he might Jeremy couldn't help but check on Simon, he wanted to see his reaction to Mr. Mazzu's petition. 

Simon's face was expressionless, but something in the way he walked towards the stage was full of gracefulness. 

Jeremy stared at the other boy as he came to stand next to him, hoping the would be able to maintain some sort of coolness as they were about to interact.

Jeremy had no idea how it went. His mind wasn't really on the scene as they exchanged words and sort of flirted with each other. All he could think was about how close Simon was to him. The way he moved. The way he talked. Simon here. Simon now.

Simon was everything in his mind at that moment. So he wasn't really surprised when he called Simon instead of Hänschen on the scene. Still it was pretty embarrassing and he wanted the earth to swallow him whole.

"I'm sorry I lost my thought for a second there" he excused himself, hoping Simon couldn't see how much he was blushing.

Mr. Mazzu nodded. 

"It's fine, I think that's all anyway" the teacher confirmed.

The moment he heard those words Simon just took off the stage so fast, Jeremy didn't  realise the other boy was gone until he caught up with his friend Lilette. 

From a second there Jeremy wondered to himself if he somehow managed to make Simon nervous and because of that the boy ran off but he shrugged the idea off his head as Mr. Mazzu told them they were free to go for the day.

Jeremy was about to leave when the teacher asked him to stay for a second, he did as he was told.

"You have a great voice Jeremy, I'm glad you decided to audition" Jeremy felt too embarrassed to say anything to that."The thing is... " The boy could see Mr. Mazzu thinking, trying to find the right words and that moment he knew he wouldn't get any role on the play.

"It's fine.. I understand" he said before Lou could say anything.

"What do you understand?" Asked Mr. Mazzu looking confused.

"It was not what you are looking for... I won't be on the show"

Now Mr. Mazzu looked even more confused.

"What? Why would you think that?"

Jeremy shrugged and was about to say he can see it on the teachers face when the adult talked again.

"That's... Not what I was about to say..."

"It's not?"

"Not at all... Actually I was about to ask you if you would be okay playing Ernst." The teacher stopped for a second, waiting to see if the boy had something to say about it, but Jeremy was in complete silence, so he continued. "Now, I have to ask you this because Simon already came to me because of the scene Hänschen and Ernst share. I need to know if you would be okay doing that kind of scene with another boy".

Jeremy almost choked as he tried to stop himself from laughing at loud.

"Are you okay Jeremy? I understand if you need time to think about it, I mean, Simon was pretty adamant about it at first so I can understand if you would be too".

"I'll do it" Said Jeremy instantly, he wasn't even listening to Mr. Mazzu anymore. "I'll be Ernst, I'll be the best damn Ernst this school has ever seen". 

Mr. Mazzu nodded in agreement, but then as Jeremy was just taking off he heard the teacher saying that he was the only Ernst the school has seen.

Jeremy didn't care for the factual comment, he had just decided, he would be the only Ernst this Hänschen will ever see. Really see.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm updating this because I see many people give kudos so I'm guessing some of you want to read this for some reason. I appreciate it very much.  
> I'll be updating this as soon as possible, I don't want this fandom, this ship, this show to die so I'll be here fighting for as long as I can.  
> Thanks to Siremyrises.tumblr.com for the idea of the song for the audition!
> 
> Find me @ jeremy-disaster.tumblr.com  
> If you have any prompt or anything, I'm open to suggestions I really want to write for Rise.


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning was a blur of classes, people saying 'hi', him responding to them without even realising who they were and daydreaming. A lot of daydreaming.

It had all started when Mr. Mazzu offered Ernst role to him the day before and he went full crazy on it all night. Sure, Jeremy thought he could try for a role in the show and he could dream of getting to play alongside Simon as his scene partner but that was just that, a dream, a wish, not something that could actually happen.

Until it did and now he felt he could touch the sky with his bare hands.

Obviously that thought was one he would forever keep to himself. He would never admit to anyone how happy he was he'll be doing a romantic scene with the Simon Saunders. His crush Simon Saunders.

Now that he got the role he wanted he let his imagination run wild. Everything felt possible. Sure, the day before he was surprised Simon ever paid attention to the fact they shared a class, but now they'll be playing side by side and all Jeremy could think about was running lines with Simon, talking to Simon, hanging out with Simon, kissing Simon, as Ernst, obviously, and as himself too because he could dream right?

'No, you can't'. He stopped himself. 'You can like Simon, sure, but you don't know how he feels, for all you know he is straight'. He reminded himself as he walked towards the auditorium after class. The internal debate on whether he'll allow himself to daydream about being more than scene partners with Simon Saunders would have to wait, now he had to set his mind on the show.

When he got to the auditurium it was almost 3:30 pm. He saw some familiar faces, people he met the previous year when he was part of Guys and Dolls. Apparently, many of them remembered him and his voice from the chorus which made him feel a little self-conscious but also glad he was doing this.

As he was talking to some girls Mr. Mazzu stepped out and stood in front of them all, waiting for the kids to take a seat so he could start talking.

Mr. Mazzu presented the two new additions to the troupe, Jeremy himself who stood up and sort of bowed in a very awkward way while trying to see Simon's reaction while the teacher said he'll be portraying Ernst, and then Michael who would be portraying Moritz. 

Then as if on cue quarterback and prodigious son of Stanton High School, Robbie Thorne made an entrance, though he just stood there, staring at Mr. Mazzu. Everyone stayed in silence, looking at him, even the teacher.

"Are we gonna start rehearsal or are we just gonna stay here in silence?" Asked a girl, Jolene if Jeremy remembered right.

Mr. Mazzu turned to her and smile.

"Yeah, of course. But first, troupe, let me present you all our Melchior, Robbie Throne." As of he needed to be presented at all, he was the most known kid in school. 

As everyone was staring in awe at Robbie Jeremy seized the moment and looked at Simon, he and Lilette were elbowing each other eagerly. He wondered to himself if one of them had a crush on Robbie. God, he hope it was Lilette. Or would it be better if it was Simon? Because that way it would mean that maybe he was into guys? 

Why was he doing this to himself?

Jeremy wanted to smack himself then and there. He just needed to take a moment and stop thinking about Simon because otherwise the next three months would be extremely painful. 

 He sighed loudly and Michael stared at him.

"You okay, buddy?" Jeremy stared at the boy asking him. He seemed trustworthy and nice and for a moment he was tempted to share with him all the ideas he had in the last 24 hours, then he realised how crazy he might sound he would so he just nodded and gave him a little smile.

"Yeah, I'm just realising this is really happening".

"You mean the show? Yeah, I can't believe I let Maashous convince me to audition, I've never acted before".

"Uhm, you don't need to be nervous" Jeremy offered, "I've played before you just need to forget yourself and let the character live through you"

"It wouldn't end that well, would it?" Michael joked, Jeremy laughed. 

Before they could keep talking Mr. Mazzu called for all the boys to the stage. Apparently since they didn't had all the roles up until that moment they hadn't even started rehearsing. 

Mr. Mazzu had the idea of running through the boys's songs according to their place on the show, so the first song they tried was All That's Known.

Jeremy stood from his seat and went with all the other boys to stand next to the piano. They opened their books and started reading the Latin poem. It was a mess. Each one read at their own peace and they kept messing up the words, all except Simon who Jeremy imagined had been studying his parts on the show for the longest.

It took about 30 minutes for them all to read at the same peace, and it was exhausting. Jeremy had never even think about Latin as a thing that he'll ever need in his life and now he realised he'll have to know these words by heart. He decided he'll be practicing every moment he had to nail the thing. 

By the time Mr. Mazzu decided to move on to The Bitch Of Living they managed to make it sound pretty good and Robbie's singing was on point. 

They started The Bitch Of Living right next to the piano, Michael was singing his lines and he was amazing. Jeremy was in awe of the people he had heard so far. 

After a first intent of the song, which sounded pretty good, Jeremy had to admit Ms. Wolfe told Mr. Mazzu they should try it again, this time sitting on their places so she could start giving them some directions on how they should move and dance while singing. 

Mr. Mazzu told them then to put the chairs on place and positioned them. Jeremy was seated next to Simon at the begining of line and now he was very aware of every movement the other boy was doing. He tried to act as cool and collected as he could but Simon was distracting.

Either way the song went pretty well, so after a second try on their places they moved on again.

And Then There Were None was next and Michael did so well on that song Mr. Mazzu not only looked extremely happy but also told them to move to the next song asap. They keep going through the songs and Jeremy could see the girls looked really bored on their seats he felt sort of bad for them.

But then Mr. Mazzu asked for Robbie, Michael, Francis and Clark to leave the stage so Simon and him could go for WOYBR Jeremy kind of tunned out everything and everyone who wasn't the other boy.

They were standing opposite to one another next to the piano and Jeremy had to really calm himself down when Simon started singing. At first the dark haired boy was looking at his book as if he was reading the lyrics of the song, though Jeremy noticed or imagined he wasn't really paying any attention to it. Anyway Jeremy was glad Simon was so inversed on his book because that way he could stare at the boy as much as he wanted. Then, when his part of the song came up he just started singing still looking at Simon who was staring back at him and had his mouth slightly opened. 

As they both went on singing together and their voices merged Jeremy couldn't help but feel a little too excited. They sounded great together, or at least to him they did.

They finished their song and smiled at each other. Jeremy was on the clouds.

They kept going with rehearsal for an hour more or so before Mr. Mazzu called for the girls to come up to the stage too and joined they boys. They started with Touch Me as Ms. Wolfe taught them the choreography and they all followed.

Soon enough they got through all the songs, having the most fun while performing Totally Effed. They just got to jump around and do whatever they wanted most of the time. It was just so much fun.

When they finished running through the songs Mr. Mazzu give them a little time out to rest for a while before start working on some scenes.

Jeremy just entered the greenroom, he wanted some water, when he heard the girls complaining about how boring the rehearsal had been up until now that day. He couldn't blame them, they sure spent most of the last two hours sitting and watching the boys sing and have fun on stage. He smiled at them sheepishly. Some of the girls smiled back at him, Jolene smirked.

"I hope at least we get to run some fun scenes today, so my day won't just be a total loss".

Violet who was sitting next to her put a hand on the other girl's shoulder and squished it as she told her she was sure they time on the stage will come really soon.

"Oh, I'm not talking about our scenes at all" Replied Jolene, looking at Jeremy. "I'm hoping we get to see some action on the stage today at least". 

Jeremy could imagine what was she talking about, he couldn't help but blush. He hoped the girls didn't see it. None of them commented on it, so he figured he was safe.

The voice of Mr. Mazzu came from the auditorium then, calling for everyone to come back so they could start rehearsing some scenes .

The first ones to get on stage were, obviously, Lilette and Robbie. She seemed to know her lines pretty damn well which made the little Robbie knew look a lot more disastrous. Yet, the all troupe respected the two people on stage and kept silence, fire the most time. Now and then Jeremy still could hear Gwen commenting on how Lilette was delivering her lines wrong. He didn't check on who was she talking to, but he was glad whomever it was kept shushing her up.

All the boys were called for the class scene then and Jeremy could swear he heard Jolene singing 'boring' as he got on stage.

Sure, he didn't have to do much so he just zoned out for a while. They were working so much in this first rehearsal he was starting to get really tired. Before he even realised Mr. Mazzu called for the vineyard scene. 

Everyone had left the stage except for the both of them and Mr. Mazzu who had them sitting next to each other so they could run the scene. Simon looked really uncomfortable and clearly Jeremy wasn't the only one noticing this, because Mr. Mazzu decided to comment on how they should work on their closeness.

"How much closeness?" Asked Simon looking a little nervous.

"Well, they kiss on the scene, so the goal is that much closeness" commented Mr. Mazzu. Simon looked like he is was about to be sick. "I'm not telling you to kiss Jeremy this very moment, but you'll have to work on that, maybe you can start by like, some kind of touch?"

"A touch?" Repeated Simon, looking at Mr. Mazzu, then posing his eyes on Jeremy smiled at him, hoping to look as harmless as possible, he then went on and pointed to his leg, as if inviting Simon to put his hand on it.

For some reason Simon obliged. Jeremy smiled, but tried to not look too happy about how everything was developing. 

"Great" said Mr. Mazzu. "Now run the scene again". 

Simon was taking back his hand when Mr. Mazzu stopped him.

"Keep the touching going".

"Yeah!" Someone screamed from the seats. Jeremy could imagine who.

They ran the scene again. Simon looking all flustered. Jeremy wonder how much was he blushing himself, but they ran it through and went to sit with everyone else as Michael and Gwen get up on stage and no one commented so he guessed they didn't noticed.

Less than a hour later they finished rehearsal for the day. They were all very tired and we're sitting on stage as Mr. Mazzu was giving them a speech about how they were a sacred troupe and how much all this meant. Jeremy had no idea how come he was resting on Anabelle shoulder but it felt nice. All the energy in the troupe felt very right and Jeremy felt happy.

For once, he was part of something that mattered and it felt so good.

Mr. Mazzu told them rehearsal was done for the day then and everyone just got up and started walking toward the exit, not without saying goodbye to each other.

"Hey Jeremy!" Called for him a female voice, he turned around and saw Anabelle walking to him.

"Hey, what's up?" He asked.

"I was talking to the others and we figured you should be reinvited to the understudies since, like last year you are as we all are someone's number two".

The understudies. He had completely forgotten about that. 

 "That sounds really good" He said smiling at her.

"Cool. We meet in the greenroom whenever we have some free time, feel free to drop by anytime". He nodded. Then they said goodbye to each other and left school for the day.

As Jeremy was driving home he was thinking about all the work he had put on the day and how much more he'll have to put up with until the show actually happened and then some.

Still he felt so full of energy and couldn't wait to see what the next few months had prepared for him. He just couldn't wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm very happy people seem to be enjoying the story, I'll work on moving forward faster from now on, I just needed to set the story going from pretty much Jeremy saying hi when he was presented to the troupe. I think it will get better from now on. I'll be posting as soon as possible the next two chapters I'm already working on.
> 
> Just so you know, you can find me @jeremy-disaster.tumblr.com  
> I'll be the one talking about Rise for the next 40 years.


	4. Chapter 4

Getting cancelled right after they started rehearsing wasn't what Jeremy expected to be happening next with the sow. But as they all gathered the next day in the auditorium Mr. Mazzu gave them the bad news, he wouldn't be directing Spring Awakening. In fact he wouldn't be directing them as a troupe at all, from now on they would work under Ms. Wolfe's direction. 

The show they were doing was bad news too. The pirates of Penzance had such an appeal that as Ms. Wolfe announced it was the show they were doing most guys just left, Jeremy saw that Lilette left too. In fact Jeremy was about to do it himself but he saw Simon didn't move from his place and do he decided he'll take a shoot with this show too. 

"Well, I wasn't sure how many of you will stay after the news so I haven't decided on the cast yet" said Ms. Wolfe. "I suppose you can go home for today".

Everyone started gathering their stuff and leaving the auditorium when Ms. Wolfe approached Jeremy.

"I'm glad you decided to stay Jeremy, you'll be a great addition to the show" Jeremy smiled shyly and feeling a little guilty because he wasn't exactly staying for the troupe. 

"I hope we can make the best of it" he told her, she nodded and and smiled at him. 

He wasn't sure what else to say so he just said bye and left the auditorium. 

 

The show sucked. It just did. They had been rehearsing for a few days now and it looked horrible. Jeremy wondered at moments if the rest of the troupe wasn't just making it suck on purpose. Though, looking at how serious Simon took the whole show he wasn't sure if the others didn't feel compelled to do their best. He knew he did.

Then, the show just sucked.

They were in the middle of a break, all sitting in the greenroom when Jolene snapped.

'"I just can't take this anymore, this show is the worst".

"It's not that bad" Jeremy said trying to light up the mood of the troupe. 

"Jeremy, i get that being optimistic at all times it's your thing, and most of the time is like, adorable because you look like a happy puppy, but.. the show sucks" She replied.

"I don't look like a puppy". He exclaimed, looking for some support from the other members of the troupe. Violet and Harmony looked away when he stared at them. "I don't" He repeated.

"You...kind of do, though?" Commented Cheryl, smiling a little.

"Stop, I do not look like a puppy"

"Hmm..." started Lexi but she saw in Jeremy's face he needed some back up. "Only some times?"

"More like all the time" Jolene was decided on getting it settled. "Simon, tell Jeremy he does look like a puppy" she asked from the only other boy left in the troupe, everyone turned to him waiting for his veredict.

"I will not" The boy declared.

"Thank you"

"You do realise he is not denying it, right? He just isn't saying it" Violet clarified, the girls laughed.

"Ugh, you all are worse than the show" Jeremy said then.

"So you admit the show is bad?" Jolene asked him.

"Okay, yeah.. whatever, the show is not that good but it's not like we can do anything about it"

"Are we sure we can't?" Jolene questioned, smiling widely.

 

It didn't take long for them to realise what they had to do to get back their show, but they had to make sure the people who quit before were on board with them and still wanted to be part of Spring Awakening.

Each one of them was asigned a member of the troupe to go and ask them to come back and fight for their show. 

Jeremy was happy when he was asigned Michael. He really liked the guy.

Finding Michael though, turned out to be a pretty difficult task. After all he had seen the guy only twice and had no idea what year was he in, and just asking for ''Michael" on a school of Stanton High's size could be somewhat futile.

Lost and out for ideas of how to find Michael at school he started walking aimlessly through the halls until he got to the choir's room. 

As he was passing by he heard a voice that sounded pretty familiar to him. He looked through the door's window and was gladly surprised to see it was Michael singing inside.

He opened the door to the room and stood there, listening to the other boy until the last realised he wasn't alone in the room anymore.

Michael stopped singing.

"Hey, ... Jeremy, right?" Michael wasn't sure if he remembered the name correctly.

"Yeah, hi" Jeremy entered the room as he spoke. "Michael, I was just looking for you".

"If you are here to convince me to participate on The Pirates of Penzance it's a no bigger than the school".

Jeremy laughed.

"Actually I'm here to convince you to come back for Spring Awakening" Michael looked confused.

"Are they letting the drama club do the show, how come?"

"Not yet, but let's say we'll have a very heated and convincing argument in favor of Spring Awakening".

 "Okay, you have me listening".

 

By the time Jeremy got back to school that evening Robbie was checking his phone and giving Clark instructions on how to light a fire. Some of the girls were standing in the side, looking at them.

Jeremy approached the girls.

"I thought I was late" He told them. The girls looked at him, he noticed Gwen seemed particularly annoyed.

"They've been trying to light that fire for like half an hour, they'll never make it" She commented staring at the boys absently. 

"We need someone who knows how to light a fire, this is ridiculous" Violet said. "You didn't go to the boy scouts by any chance did you?" Jeremy shook his head. "Well I hope Michael or Maashous did because otherwise we'll be stuck here for the years to come".

"Where are the costumes anyway?" Questioned Jeremy seeing the stuff wasn't out yet.

"Simon, Francis, Lilette and Jolene went in looking for then".

"Isn't it a lot of stuff? Shouldn't we all help instead of like, wait for Robbie and Clark to succeed?" Gwen shrugged, the other girls kept quiet.

"They said they were fine, but you can go help them if you are so adamant about it".

"O.. Kay..." Jeremy wasn't sure but Gwen seemed a little angry, he didn't want to bother her so he looked at the other girls "Any of you want to come with me?"

Anabelle took a step forward and grabbed him by the arm. 

"I'll come with you, Jeremy"

 As they were walking towards the school Michael reached and joined them. He said Maashous wanted to help too but he was caught by Robbie and Clark. Apparently Maashous knew how to light a fire.

The school was pretty much in silence. Classes and most clubs were done for the day, so all students, or at least most of them had left. The emptiness of the school made Jeremy a little nervous for some reason, but as he checked on his companions he saw they seemed thrilled by what they were doing.

Michael offered them to take a shortcut to the auditorium, Jeremy never heard of a shortcut as such but he supposed it wouldn't hurt anyone.

A shortcut alright. 

They started walking in the hallways and Michael would stop at different rooms just to ask them if they had any classes in there. Jeremy didn't want to answer, he just wanted to get to the auditorium, but Anabelle was really into the 'game'. 

"We really should get to the auditorium" Jeremy reminded them as they were entering a laboratory. 

"But this is fun, the school is so empty! Have you ever seen the school without any students?" Michael was now in the middle of the class, he turned to his left and so it. "Oh look, Jeremy! Your pal, the skeleton from Chemistry class! Finally we found a room you have a class in".

Jeremy stared at the other guy and then took a look at the classroom. He had chemistry there alright and so did Simon.

Jeremy entered the classroom and so did Anabelle following him. 

"Okay, yeah I have a class here, so?".

"So you have chemistry here, right?" Michael was sort of smiling.

"Yeah, I have chemistry, this is a laboratory.. and I have chemistry...so what?"

"And you have this class with Simon, from the show, right?"

"Uhm.. I have a class with Simon, from the show, and?"

"And it's chemistry"

"Yeah, Simon and I have chemistry together, so?"

Jeremy stopped, Anabelle and Michael started laughing.

"Good, because you have a shared scene" Explained Michael still laughing a little.

"Are you for real?" Said Jeremy loudly. "You made us waste all this time for a pointless joke? What are you, 12?"

Michael was about to answer him when they heard a sound coming from outside the classroom. The three of them went silent and didn't move, not even an inch. They waited like that but nothing happened. Anabelle was the first to move again, approaching Jeremy.

"Do you think there are ghosts in school?" Asked Anabelle grabbing Jeremy's arm, this time thighter than before.

"Are you seriously asking me that?" Replied Michael, she nodded vigorously. "There's not such things as ghosts, Anabelle"

"Says who?"

"Reason"

"Prove it"

"How can I prove it doesn't exist? You prove it exists!"

"Can you both stop, we really should go help the others" Jeremy stopped them, trying to release himself from Anabelle's hold. She was holding him really tight.

Another sound from outside. The three of them turned to the door. 

"I don't wanna die in school" Anabelle said, dramatically.

 Michael sighed, then walked towards the door. "No one is gonna die ..." He started saying but then, as he left the classroom he went silent. He entered again fast as he could, he looked pale.

"Did you see a ghost?"

"Worse, Principal Ward is here"

"Oh, no it's fine" Explained Anabelle. "That's part of the plan".

"What? But what if he sees us burning everything?"

"Well, duh, what did you expect? If he doesn't know who did it, he won't get our rebelion and let us perform Spring Awakening" as Anabelle was saying this, Jeremy nodded along smiling.

 "You didn't tell me that part of the plan! What the heck, dude?" He exclaimed pointing at Jeremy.

"Would you have come if I did?"

"I... I don't know, but I'd have want to know!" 

Jeremy finally managed to release himself from Anabelle's grip and approached Michael. He put his hand on the other's boy shoulder and squeeze it.

"It will be fun, you'll see" He smiled at the boy with what his mother called his 'sunshine smile', it was a smile that made everyone do whatever he wanted. As Michael started to give in Simon stepped into the classroom and stopped in his tracks when he saw Jeremy.

"Hey, Simon" Greeted him Anabelle. The boy turned to her as if he just came out of a dream.

"What?"

"I just said hi" she told him.

"Oh, yeah hi." He stood there in silence for a moment, no one said anything, so he continued"Anyway..." He turned to Michael and Jeremy again. "Everyone is looking for you three" He said it a little too harsh for Michael's taste, but he didn't commented on that.

"We were looking for you, we wanted to help bringing the costumes outside and.." started saying Jeremy, but Simon's eyes on him made him forget what was he saying. "...Stuff".

"Well, I can see how you can get confused and think this is the auditorium ..." Simon commented sarcastically. "But we weren't here so.. clearly it isn't".

"We got caught in the moment" Explained Michael.

"Uhm... However, we already took everything out and we were all looking for you as I said so..." Simon took out his phone and started texting. The three of them waited for him to finish. "Everyone is meeting outside." They followed Simon without questioning.

 

Everyone started applauding them when they approached the bonfire. Jeremy took a look at the people, every member of the troupe was there, which made him very happy, they really were doing this. Ms. Wolfe was there too. This made him even happier because it meant Spring Awakening really meant something, not just to them.

And so, people started taking costumes and hats and just threw them to the bonfire. He could see Ms. Wolfe actually handing the stuff to whomever wanted to throw it to the bonfire. It felt kind of awesome. 

Then someone started singing ''I believe' and they all felt compelled to sing too. 

It was actually happening, they were making a statement, it was Spring Awakening or nothing, they wanted this thing to matter.

A car pulled over close to them and Mr. Mazzu and some lady, Jeremy supposed was his wife approached. Mr. Mazzu looked buffled. He surely couldn't believe what he was seeing.

They were still singing when Principal Ward and Coach Strickland came to them. Jeremy was on the back and couldn't really tell what was happening but he saw Simon, Lilette, Robbie and Ms. Wolfe talk to Principal Ward. It didn't take more than two minutes for the coach and the principal to step back. Then, everyone was back and the whole troupe was singing together. 

They did it. They made it. They were doing Spring Awakening.

Jeremy smiled widely, sure he was happy he was Ernst again and Simon was still Hänschen, but spending time with the troupe, standing now with Anabelle and Lexi, having fun with the others... It was so much more than he ever expected and he hoped, he really hoped it lasted forever.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so i haven't write a fanfic in a million years, but i decided to give this a try because this fandom is too new and it needs some fanfics asap... i was thinking on making this a multichapter thing, you tell me if you are interested.
> 
> find me @ jeremy-disaster.tumblr.com
> 
> See yah around,  
> Ciinth


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